How an Apprentice and Mentor Turned Old Shirts into a One-of-a-Kind Capsule Collection
Fashion designers Doron Ashkenazi and Einav Ben David, once teacher and student, launched a 19-piece capsule collection this season built through upcycling, one of the most popular sustainability practices in recent years. The project is meant to continue developing in future seasons and is rooted in a rare mentor-protégé model in Israel, which Ashkenazi says helps pass knowledge, skills, and confidence from one generation to the next.
Ashkenazi, who studied art and tailoring in Italy before founding his eponymous fashion house in 1989, described learning in the same way from the tailor Haim Mizrahi, whose studio sat above his first atelier in Tel Aviv’s Kerem HaTeimanim neighborhood. He said he watched Mizrahi hand-stitch jackets for mayors and government ministers, and now tries to give Ben David exposure not only to design, but also to collection building, private clients, logistics, quantities, and working with craftspeople. Ben David, a former student of Ashkenazi at Bezalel Academy, said many veteran designers no longer work hands-on, while Ashkenazi still comes to the studio at 7 a.m. and makes the patterns himself.
The capsule was assembled from unsold old pieces, mostly white shirts that are the first to get stained during store fittings. Some items were returned from production with small defects, while others were samples never intended for sale. The designers also used archival materials collected in the studio, including textiles from private clients, such as lace left over from a groom’s suit that had belonged to his grandmother in Spain.
The result is a line in which no two garments are identical. The rack includes white shirts and overshirts altered through embroidery, stitching, and reconstruction of different fabrics. In some cases, existing stains were turned into new decorative patches. Ben David said she hopes to keep designing menswear and make high-quality casual clothing from good fabrics, even though she noted that not many men in Israel are willing to pay for such products. Ashkenazi urged her not to give up, telling her that college is a place to fail and that a final project should be a space for bold experimentation, not commercial limits.
